There's a t-shirt that's popular at comics and science-fiction conventions that reads, in the famous Star Wars font, joss whedon is my master now. The line comes from an online comic strip called PvP, and the implication is something on the order of "George Lucas used to be the gold standard for pure authentic nerd awesomeness, but he betrayed us by making that crappy prequel trilogy. The torch has been passed. Now I'm putting my faith in Joss Whedon."

Whedon, 47, is probably best known as the creator of the cult fantasy-horror series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as TV's...